Construction Dust Problems Severe in Incheon and Gyeonggi Province

Residents of Incheon and Gyeonggi Province are suffering dust damage up to nearly four times greater than Seoul citizens from construction sites and other sources, according to a recent survey.

According to the Ministry of Environment on the 20th, a two-month special inspection from March on 11,129 airborne dust worksites including construction sites across 16 provinces and cities resulted in 632 violating establishments (violation rate of 5.7%) being identified.

Incheon had the highest violation rate at 13.3% with 57 violations out of 429 inspected sites, followed by Jeju at 11.0%, Daegu 8.2%, Gyeonggi 8.1%, and South Gyeongsang Province 6.9%, showing generally high violation rates.

In contrast, North Jeolla Province had the lowest violation rate at 3.0% and Seoul showed a low level at 3.5%, followed by Gwangju 3.7%, Daejeon and North Chungcheong each 3.9%, South Jeolla and South Chungcheong each 4.5%, and North Gyeongsang Province 4.6%.

The violations for airborne dust included damaged coverings on stockpiled materials at 299 cases (47.3%), failure to report airborne dust-generating operations at 240 cases (38.0%), and inadequate dust suppression facilities on transport vehicles at 90 cases (14.2%). Violating worksites were subject to administrative measures such as improvement orders and fines totaling approximately 100 million won, with 74 sites being referred for prosecution.

The government stated it will apply point deductions (-1) in bid evaluation for government-funded projects for violating companies, and that penalties will be significantly strengthened following the enforcement of the revised Clean Air Conservation Act from December 30 this year, with fines or penalties increasing from 500,000 to 2 million won to 1 million to 5 million won.